Richard Sherman says report of any rift with Russell Wilson is 'nonsense'

An interesting story from ESPN.com that claimed Richard Sherman still hasn’t gotten over the Seattle Seahawks’ loss in Super Bowl XLIX and some defensive players resent quarterback Russell Wilson was met with an expected response.

A couple of prominent Seahawks, including Sherman himself, denied that there’s anything to the story.

The ESPN.com story noted that some of Wilson’s teammates are upset he never gets criticism from coach Pete Carroll, and that has manifested itself in a few ways. Included in the story was an anecdote about Wilson giving teammates first-class tickets on Alaska Airlines (a company Wilson endorses) as a Christmas present, and a Seahawks player telling an assistant, “It didn’t cost him anything. Big deal.”

Sherman is active on Twitter, but didn’t say anything about the story on social media. But when asked by Sirius XM NFL Radio, he dismissed it.

“Its just a bunch of nonsense from ‘anonymous’ sources,” Sherman said. “Can never put much gravity of things like that.”

Fellow Seahawks star defender Michael Bennett was adamant that there was nothing to the story.

Aside from Wilson passing the time-honored BBQ ribs test as a teammate, it wouldn’t be unusual for there to be some resentment toward a star quarterback. Wilson’s salary-cap figure of $18.8 million is more than $5 million more than any other Seahawks player (Sherman is second). Wilson, like any other big-name quarterback, gets an inordinate amount of attention. These things can create tension in any locker room.

The author of the ESPN piece, Seth Wickersham, is also highly respected and defended the story.

It’s very likely there’s at least something to the story, though it doesn’t mean there’s an irreparable problem in the Seahawks locker room. Even if there’s a legitimate issue, it’s a fantasy to believe all 53 players in every NFL locker room are good friends. The Seahawks will be fine regardless.

But Seattle has been the NFL’s most interesting team the past few seasons. A little bit of offseason drama is nothing new to the Seahawks.

Richard Sherman said a story that portrayed a rift between him and Russell Wilson is “nonsense.” (AP)